The Quarry

About The Quarry

The Quarry was made by Supermassive Games and published by 2K in June 2022, for PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X|S. It was planned as a spiritual successor to Until Dawn and draws on teen slasher and monster films. The ensemble cast includes David Arquette, Ariel Winter, Justice Smith, Brenda Song, Lance Henriksen, Lin Shaye, Ted Raimi and Grace Zabriskie.

Camp is over and the kids have gone home, but the counselors are stuck one more night in the remote forests of upstate New York. Their party becomes a night of horror as they are hunted by blood-drenched locals and something sinister in the woods. You switch between all nine, exploring the camp and the forest, searching for clues, evidence and tarot cards, and making the choices that set the story's course. Between chapters a fortune teller reads the cards you have found.

Play is cinematic: you walk, look and pick up objects, choose between lines and actions in tense moments, react to quick-time prompts, aim and shoot when a character has a gun, and hold your breath to stay hidden. Difficulty can be adjusted for every gameplay element, and button mashing, quick-time events and aiming can be turned off. Choices large and small change relationships and who lives, and the endings range from everyone surviving to everyone dying.

It plays like a teen horror film you control, with jokes and gore. It is at its best with friends: in couch co-op each person picks counselors and plays their scenes, and online up to seven friends can watch and vote on decisions. Movie Mode lets you set how the characters behave and watch the story play out. After a first playthrough, Death Rewind lets you undo three deaths per run.

The Deluxe Edition adds 1980s outfits, Death Rewind from the start, a Gorefest Movie Mode and visual filters styled after 8mm indie horror, 80s VHS and black-and-white classic horror. A free trial contains the Prologue; trial players can be invited to vote online, and their progress carries over if they buy the game. Critics gave it a Metascore of 79 on PC, and it is rated Very Positive on Steam.

How to play The Quarry

1. Pick a mode: play alone, with friends on one couch taking counselors, or online with friends voting.
2. Explore each scene, picking up clues, evidence and tarot cards.
3. Choose between two paths in conversations and dangerous moments; your choices shape the night.
4. React to quick-time prompts, aim when given a gun, and hold your breath to stay hidden.
5. Between chapters, see a fortune teller who shows visions from the tarot cards you found.

Tips

• Collect tarot cards: each lets the fortune teller show you a glimpse of a possible future.
• Read evidence and clues; some change what the characters know and can do later.
• If reactions are not your strength, lower the difficulty or turn off button mashing, quick-time events and aiming in the options.
• Death Rewind unlocks after your first playthrough and undoes three character deaths per run; the Deluxe Edition gives it from the start.
• Try the free trial first: it contains the Prologue, and your progress carries over if you buy.

Questions